kelly knot. if they move to block the final votes, democrats may not have enough votes to push it through. >> on the floor of the u.s. senate thursday, a first step in what could be a stand off of former senator chuck hagel's nomination to be the next secretary of defense. >> on this vote the yays are 58. the nays are 40. >> confirmation remains in question. >> taken policy positions that i believe call into question the quality of his professional judgment on issues critical to national defense. >> senator john mccain and lindsay gram say they are opposing hagel about israel and troop surges in iraq which are at odds to u.s. policy. >> it was unnerving some of the things that came out of that hearing. created more questions

and doubts than confidence. >> hagel, the former will you be pick an senator declined for appear to struggle in explaining decisions. >> we're right? >> i would defer in your judgment to sort that out. >> the committee deserves your judgment. >> republicans have sought to link confirmation to continued questions over the benghazi attack. white house responded to questions in a letter today while democrats tried to be opponents. >> we got a car going on in afghanistan. we need to have a secretary of defense in place. >> we need to get on and approve the nomination so he can get on with his duties as secretary of defense. >> but with the vote complete senate majority leader harry reed has announced a final vote

a week from tuesday setting up an event show case with republicans if they decide to try and block it. >> we went on to blast republicans on hagel's nomination. a move he described as president's pick. only five republican votes to secure the 60 needed. >> usually get a lot on the house. don't hear in the senate much. the obama administration sounding the sequester alarm today. ought mat hick across the board spending cuts are scheduled to kick in. students could be at risk if those cuts go through. in addition to air traffic, housing and boarder security. >> it would mean fewer teachers to educate our children. less funding for schools to help disadvantaged students for children with disabilities. >> no amount of planning can mitigate the negative affects on the security of the country.

>> the is he questionster was enacted during the 2011 debt ceiling negotiations and only to happen if law makers failed to agree. clearly, that's the case. meanwhile, president obama taking state of the union address to the road. he met with students and teachers at the college heights early education program. plans for increasing pre-school education. the president highlighted the program during his address tuesday night. today he emphasized earlier a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. >> the kids we saw today that i had a chance to spend time with in mary's classroom, they are some of the lucky ones. because fewer than 3 in 10 four year olds are enrolled in a high quality pre-school program. >> the president says congress needs to come up with a way to pay for all children to have pre-school education. republicans say they want to review his head start program before they spend more taxpayer

money. the edge on dc. today is valentine's day. this date has been used to bring awareness to violent acts against women. matt takes us to a rally held rightur area. >> on a day meant for love and kindness, for many it's so much more than flowers and candy. it's about ptecting women from horrible acts of violence. a flash mob dance kicked off a large gathering today. many more events just like this were held around the world. >> the best expression of love and appreciation for women in the world is to end the violence against women. >> progress is being made, am messsty international reports 1 in 3 women will sustain some kind of abuse. here in the district young females. >> we have a tremendous issue

with violence against women particularly adolescent girls who face issues of dating violence and date rape. >> recently here, sexual assaults have been the focus of many questions. this comes after a human rights watch group conducted an investigation that revealed dc police were not acting properly when sexual assaults were reported. >> i hope we can come to the bottom of this. i know there's an investigation being done. and i think that's vital. >> meanwhile, back at the rally, organizers are quick to say enjoy the roses and candy but try not to forget about the women suffering through violence. matt ackland, fox 5 news. >> mothers around the nation came to washington to ask congress to have a heart on valentine's day. urging law makers and the nra to pass stricter gun laws. the group called mom's rising held a petition.

joined by activists. they walked to new york congress woman's office. a new handgun disclosure bill is one step closer to becoming law. today the senate approved the legislation. keep the names of concealed handgun permit holders private. only shielded applicants. the bill headed to gofr or bob mcdonald's desk. at the university of virginia has been ordered to undergo a psyche ee-- police charged the 20-year-old with falsifying law enforcement officers. a murder mystery in the alexandria. a 94-year-old man

was killed yesterday. the house was ransacked. the man lived there with his elderly wife and his grown son. the house is surrounded by security cameras. neighbors are shocked. >> we're just devastated. he was a kind gentle soul. he was very appreciative of anything you did for him. he was good to all of us. >> at the same house last november. not saying whether she was involved in yesterday's attack. >> the edge on maryland. governor martin omally continues his call. he testified to a general assembly committee. meantime, mike miller wants to expand the law. he says if efforts to repeal fail he'd like to see capitol cases have more evidence be allowed. currently only dna or videotaped evidence can be used. wants fingerprints or photo evidence included. straight ahead, the mass

miscommunication and melt down that led to the green line mayhem last month. and why some home schoolchildren in our area will not be allowed to play sports at public schools. >> what a beautiful valentine's day gift today. lots of sunshine. temperature touching 50 degrees in most areas. some changes to the weekend. and would you believe snow is back in the forecast. we're talking about that in detail coming up. happy valentine's day to lindsay. >> thank you. happy valentine's day to you too. coming up in sports why red skin's fan should feel good about the quarterback progress. three in a row would be really nice. those stories later in sports. brian. >> if you have a story idea, there's the number and e-mail address. we're back. we're back.

the tebow bill has been sidelined for second year would have allowed home schoolchildren to play sports in virginia. today a state senate committee

respected that bill. tim tebow was home skilled but did play in his local team in florida. home school students pay taxes. should meet the same eligibility requirements. second push for transportation funding reform. the state senator approved a rewritten proposal that increases the gas tax. the new bill faces a vote in the house. expected to get rejected. monitoring metro tonight and getting answers following last month's green line malfunction. metro investigators say the incident started with a problem with an arching insulator on the tracks. ready to restore the power but couldn't because passengers had started walking down the tracks. caused the delay to stretch to more than two hours. real estate committee has approved a deal to that would

allow a new fbi headquarters to be built. 78 acres of greenbelt station that it wants to sell to a developer are ready. would then build headquarters. the fbi is looking for new grounds. the j edgar hoover building is no longer adequate. just ahead. big changes are on the way for two major airlines. one spider man getting lucky this valentine's day. he hung from a building to recreate the famous movie seen. a lot of girls participated. even a dog.

a big day for american

airlines and u.s. airways. the two companies have announced their merge to create the world's biggest airline. what does that mean for travellers? sandra smith has details. >> american airlines and u.s. airways have just agreed to merge creating the world's largest airline. $11 billion deal, the new american will have more than 900 planes, 3200 daily flights and about 95,000 employees. not counting regional affiliates. >> now, what you've seen is that stability is beginning to generate modest profits for the airline industry and that's good for everybody, good for the economy, good for consumers. if our airlines are going to be competitive, they can't lose money every year. >> american airlines parent amr corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2011. the merger would give amr creditors 72% stake.

and the remaining would go to shareholders. bad news for passengers. many analysts are predicting fewer flights and higher fairs. which could actually be good news for stockholders who may see gains if profits recover. in new york, i'm sandra smith. >> you've had this storm storm on your radar. >> it's back in again, brian. but somewhat in a weakened state until it gets off the coast. doesn't look like a repeat of what happened last weekend at this point. but it's a weird little thing. we're going to be about 55 or 56 tomorrow. most of the day is going to be okay. tomorrow night into saturday that arctic air may be timing out with a wave of low pressure passing by our area. we've got a little bit of snow back in the forecast primarily on saturday. let's start with a look at today. what a beautiful day we had. you get sun in mid-february to late february.

it is really bonus time. feels so great and perks everything up. i can hear the morning doves. 50 at regan and dulles. bwi not far behind at 49. and still pretty comfortable out there tonight. and these mild temperatures are a reason why last night's snow did not stick to roadways. did have two hour delays this morning because there were slick spots. not a big surprise. 42 in new york. 40 in pittsburgh. not a lot of cold air on the map right now. and we're not expecting anything overnight. there is a system passing by that's not expected to affect us. clear skies tonight and a quiet night and quiet friday for the most part. and yeah, friday is going to be mild again. we'll have sunshine for much of the day and clouds will come in tomorrow night ahead of a frontal boundary. that is the leading edge of much colder air. it's an arctic boundary. going to change up the weekend. we thought the weekend would be cold.

kind of in with this storm and out with this storm. now it looks like it's trying to be back in again. snow is possible early on saturday. might start as rain late tomorrow night and change over in the overnight hours. and right now looks like there could be a small accumulation. the best chance of that looks like it's south and east of dc. is that going to change again? it might. we'll continue to watch it for you. thought we'll show you what the future cast is suggesting. we think it's done a good job nailing the last several. we take you all the way up to 6:00 tomorrow night. and still clear in some areas with clouds beginning to come in. we don't have a lot of worries for friday evening commute. and most of the evening hours going to be okay. by 11:00, maybe a few showers are starting to dot the radar here or there. now let's take this forward into saturday morning and see what's happened. some of those showers are starting to get more organized.

and so from southern maryland down to richmond and over to the delmarva, that's where you get snow. and at that time with the colder air coming in, might be able to stick to those grassy surfaces. we keep running this out and tries to get a little stronger. might affect some of the 95 corridor. right here looks like it's one of those things where it's a small accumulation. it won't have a chance to get developed at this point. let's stay tuned to that one. maybe it's not too disruptive if that forecast changes. 37 tonight. a few clouds. drop to 32. and a nice friday on tap. morning sun. thin clouds in the afternoon. maybe a few evening showers around. our temperature about 54 degrees. our friday really looks terrific. on the planner, we're suggesting you won't find it too chilly. call it rather mild for this time in february. 40 at 8:00 in the morning. by noon 53 degrees and 4:00, still

looking at a good amount of clear sky and good amount of sunshine with a temperature of 51. around the area we go. if we get this warm tomorrow, even if we do get something overnight in the metro area, hard for anything to accumulate. believe me, it gets cold as we head into the weekend. i want you to see this fox 5 weather accu weather forecast. a temperature of 40 but feeling colder. and on sunday, temperatures 37. windchill on a blustery day will feel like 20s. on monday, back to sunshine and 44 could be showers on tuesday. >> thank you, sue. some of our fox 5 viewers posted favorite valentine's day photos on myfoxdc.com. this picture of a broquet. it's a bouquet of flowers but filled with man things.

made the morning rush hour go smoothly. go to myfoxdc.com take part in our poll. are you going out for a romantic night on the town? snuggling up at home, kicking back with single pals or having fun with family night or hanging out with co-workers and working until 11:30 tonight? you let us know. is it possible robert griffin iii is ahead of schedule on his rehab? lindsay murphy has details. will he be ready for week one? and as we head to break, a few messages from our friends on facebook. facebook.

happy valentine's day. i'm lindsay murphy. when robert griffin iii went down, he vowed to be back for 2013. the quarterback underwent surgery to repair two ligaments in his knee over a month ago and already he and the redskins feel hopeful. allen spoke at the ground breaking ceremony in richmond saying the team continues to be optimistic griffin will be ready to start the season. the redskins know griffin has a long way to go and won't rush him back. there are reports today that based on what they've seen so far, it is possible griffin will be the team's starting quarterback in week one. a couple other notes. he admitted they missed a chance. asked about getting field turf and said the red skin's name is not meant to be offensive. to the ice where the capitols are looking for a third

straight win tonight. and take on the tampa pay t bay lightning. coming off two straight wins. most recent tuesday night in thrilling fashion. the caps trailed by two goals with less than five to go before rallying to force overtime and winning on this tally. and the captain said at this stage every point is critical. >> again, it's going to be challenging for us right now. in this position where we have to take the points and win games. i'll be honest with you, i don't care who is going to be there. >> last night in detroit the wizards saw four game winning streak come to an end. just by 16 points and 9 assists. and 20.9 for the wis not able to extend winning streak. they lost 96-85. they will have time to rest up for the second half of the season as the team enters the all star break. pitchers and catchers held

first official workout today. dealing with a visa issue. he hopes to report by the end of the week. brice harper weighed in at 230 pounds. 15 heavier than listed weight. he'll be close to 220 by the end of spring training. scott smith will be live beginning tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. to golf the northern trust open in the pacific palasades. matt enjoyed that view all day long. this is his approach on the 17th hole. and it's a beauty. it spins back inside the shadow of the flag stick. he would make a birdie. everybody is chasing after posting a 7 under 64 on day one. phil, he is currently at even par. 7 shots off the lead. that's a wrap on sports. brian. >> thanks. down to shawn yancy we go. >> we are continuing to follow a developing story tonight. the crippled cruise ship limping towards the u.s. coastline is expected to reach alabama

sometime this evening after 10:30, 11:00. the terrible conditions that passengers are dealing with on board. and a murder mystery in virginia. friends of the 94 i can't remember old victim speak out as we learn more about the investigation. those stories and much more beginning tonight at 10:00. >> thanks. one last look at the forecast. >> we have another mild day tomorrow. 54 degrees and overnight into saturday could be another round of snow. and maybe enough to accumulate in some spots. it will be colder and windier. >> the news is always on myfoxdc.com. see you back here tonight. [ male announcer ] listen to this symphony of flavor:

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